


Beach Photo

by Nicole Crucial (moilArchitect)



Category: Ao no Exorcist | Blue Exorcist
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-17
Updated: 2012-06-17
Packaged: 2017-11-22 02:27:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/604801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moilArchitect/pseuds/Nicole%20Crucial
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shiemi finds something surprising.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Beach Photo

The Kyoto trip had been a long and hard one, and it had been followed immediately by the beach-slash-kraken mission, and by the time Shiemi and the exwires got some real rest that didn't involve wearing out their shoes sightseeing a city or summoning familiars in bikinis, they were all thoroughly exhausted.

Thoroughly exhausted meant that everyone was cranky, unbearable, and ready to smack each other, which actually did happen a couple of times, mostly thanks to Izumo and Bon. Those two could never get along. Though the sweet-tempered Moriyama tried to keep peace and a smile wherever she could, it was not always easy being an incredibly timid ambassador.

She was relieved when she and Izumo split from the boys, going to their own hotel room. The two were lucky enough to have their own space, though on the down side, there was only one queen bed. One more night on a train with Bon was going to end up with someone seriously maimed.

"Finally, away from that ape!" exclaimed Shiemi's purple-headed roommate as she dumped her satchel on the floor and threw her arms back, stretching. Shiemi gave a small, mildly uncomfortable smile in agreement.

"I'm going to sleep," she continued before scooping some toiletries from her luggage and making a swift beeline towards the small bathroom. Shiemi set her own things down near Izumo's, surveying the tiny room and peering out on the balcony. A few tiny, mostly pitiful plants dared to sprout from a window box and reach for the sun, but they were not having a very easy time of it.

She went back to the side of the bed and began searching through her duffel for some sleeping clothes to change into while her temporary roomie was in the bathroom, remembering all too painfully the other's previously-mentioned "shyness." Izumo's bag slipped and the front flap opened, spilling onto the floor.

"Oh, no--she's going to be upset," Shiemi muttered as she eyed the mess. But really--how much stuff did Izumo keep in here?

No--she shouldn't look. It was impolite! This was Izumo's private luggage and it was wrong to…

…

Wait.

What was that?

In surprise, Shiemi momentarily forgot her conscious and peered at the article of interest without touching it (because touching it is gonna hurt at this point, totally). It was a square photograph, a Polaroid, she noted with some awe, which was not really so strange in itself as that…

Well…

The photo was of _her._

In the bikini she had worn to the beach, smiling and totally unaware that a photo was being snapped.

Shiemi felt a flush spread up her neck and over her face. _A picture…? Of me? Is it really…?_

It was, really.

Oh, god.

She stuffed the picture back in the front pocket and was halfway through cleaning up the rest of it in hurried frenzy when Izumo came out of the bathroom, followed by a billowing cloud of steam and drying her long, damp, gorgeous hair. Her expression was the same what-the-fuck-are-you-doing nonchalance that she always wore around the little blonde, despite the notably short silk nightgown she wore. 

Her strangely-shaped eyebrows shot upwards as she took in the scene, and a flush started to creep up her neck.

"What the hell--"

"Y-y-your stuff fell when I was trying to get my n-nightclothes out," Shiemi squeaked, beet red. Izumo dropped the towel and flew to the ground, and her blonde roomie was temporarily traumatized by the face that the movement had sent her nightgown wooshing upwards and given her a lovely shot of Hello Kitty lacy panties.

"What! Don't touch my stuff!" the purple-headed girl snapped, shoving the rest of it in there.

"I didn't mess w-with anything, I-I was just trying t-to clean up--"

"Don't!" huffed Izumo, but the explanation seemed to calm her just a little bit. "God, could you be anymore idiotic and clumsy?"

Shiemi remained silent, cowed. Izumo flipped her wet hair over her shoulder haughtily, buttoned the front flap of her bag tightly, and threw herself onto the bed with harsh, impetuous abandon.

"Go on! I'm done with the bathroom!" she commanded, not even looking at Shiemi.

The little blonde gulped and nodded, spending her few minutes there getting ready for bed.

In the shower thoughts plagued her mercilessly, like they always do to people. _Why did Izumo have that picture…? It would make sense if it had her in it… or if she had shots of everyone else, but…_

_But it was just me._

She scrubbed violently at her hair and put it out of her head.  _Impossible. No way. Izumo thinks I'm worthless!_

When she peered out of the bathroom, Izumo was curled towards the wall and seemed to be fast asleep. Breathing a sigh of relief, Shiemi folded her towel and carefully placed it to dry in the bathroom, then looked at the empty side of the bed with apprehension.

_Oh. Izumo… she looks so peaceful when she's sleeping, doesn't she? Not at all like when she's awake…_

She immediately felt guilty for thinking that and fought the urge to bop herself on the head. Still, the other girl looked so serene, calm, kind, almost inviting…

_Nononononono stop it. You know she's not like that! Sheesh!_

But she was still unsure. She sighed, thinking it was better safe than sorry under Izumo's wrath, and carefully reached for the pillow Izumo wasn't using to lay on the floor.

"Don't be stupid."

Shiemi nearly jumped out of her skin, but dropped the pillow abruptly. "What?"

"Grow a backbone, would you, you little weed? Don't just let other people have the best arrangements. You've got to fight for what you deserve."

Though it sounded really bizarre and Shiemi thought that there were honestly more appropriate scenarios to call for assertiveness instead of submission, she thought she knew enough about interpreting Kamikese to be able to tell that that was… an invitation. Or an order. Or whatever Izumo's weird tsundere version of it was.

Hesitantly, she peeled the covers back on her side of the bed and flushed deep red when she saw Izumo's nightgown hiked up and pooled around her waist. But Kamiki was facing the wall and either conked out or pretending to be. She swallowed hard and climbed into the bed, trying to ignore the Hello Kitty just a few inches away and staying as close to the opposite edge as humanly possible.

It was incredibly tense for Shiemi, but considering that the challenge (or whatever it was) had been issued from Kamiki, she was determined to go through with it. No matter how abrasive the dark-haired schoolmate was, she was always abrasive towards getting Shiemi to grow a backbone, and she figured this--insignificant and stupid though it was--was another one of those times.

Finally after at least an hour curled up frozen, she began to doze off. Small victory though it was--and probably not a victory at all--she was glad  she had achieved it.

By the time something slender and pale landed across her waist she was already gone, too dead to the world in dreams of beaches, photographs, and confusing dark-haired girls to wonder if maybe this challenge of Kamiki's had also been for her own personal gain, as it often ended up.

By morning, the arm she could've sworn had hugged her loosely all night and the photograph of her in a swimsuit were both gone without a trace, and it would not be until a mistletoe incident at Christmas that Shiemi would again have cause to wander down that particular train of thought.


End file.
